DP: Change
by EyeoftheAuthoress
Summary: Danny comes for a casual visit to the Clocktower, but he sees a shadow of someone he'd never hoped to see again. Minor, story functional Meddling Minutes.


_AN: Some AU drabble based on the most recent DP art I've done - "45" Year Old Dan Phantom. Since I've been watching so much BBC lately, I'm not sure nor do I.. particularly care if everyone's perfectly in character. Writing is for relaxing to me. x3 I'm thinking about playing with this verse, but those that remember what kind of writer I am, it's a 50/50 chance. I really like this AU because of the temporal theories though and one shot collection possibility, so we'll see. :3_

_Hope any readers enjoy~!_

* * *

Danny Phantom stepped onto Clockwork's property a year after the world had learned he was their savior. He was coming for a visit, which was uncharacteristic of the teen. But he had some time to kill, and he wanted to pay his old friend an over-due hello.

The near 16 year old walked through the open archway of the Clocktower, smiling absently at the memories he had with the lone resident here. Almost a year and a half of knowing Clockwork and the boy still never knew what to expect with the ancient soul.

He walked to the inner rooms where the time portals were held and was about to call out for the ghost. But once he peeked around the corner, he saw someone he had never hoped to see again. A nightmare from a future that would never happen.

A future for _himself_.

Danny almost stumbled backward, bringing ectoenergy to his hands instantly. His teeth clenched. He assumed the worst had happened—the dark Phantom was loose and had probably incapacitated Clockwork. Or something. It was the only way that he would be there and not a heap on the floor.

A hand clamped around Danny's, and the green energy vanished. The halfa's gaze snapped to see the Master of Time next to him. "Clockwork!" exclaimed Danny. "He's—"

"Yes. I know, he's free," replied the ice blue ghost. A faint smirk lighted his mouth, and he let go of Danny's wrist. "Everything's fine."

Danny's eyes narrowed in confusion, and he looked back to see the dark Phantom floating in front of them. Now that Danny was actually closer, he saw that the other ghost was different. He was... strikingly older—perhaps decades older even. The once pale, quick moving spectral flames he had for hair were bright. It looked like actual blue fire now, moving in slow motion. His outfit was also different but the motif hadn't changed too much.

The dark Phantom smiled in that nasty way that Danny remembered perfectly well. "Miss me, kid?"

Danny's fists clenched again, and he scowled, feeling a sense of betrayal by the temporal spirit next to him. "Clockwork..."

"Don't overreact, Daniel. It has been much longer for two than it has been for one of us here," commented Clockwork, mysterious as always, as he floated past the two of them into the portal room. He seemed to be preoccupied with other matters, as if Danny's EVIL SELF being free as a bird wasn't a big deal!

"What's going on here, Clockwork?! Why did you let him out?" demanded Danny, steering clear of the Dark Phantom. The ghost was far too calm for Danny's taste. He didn't trust him as far as he could blast the hulking mass. Though... he didn't look so hulking any more..

"Oh please, Danny-boy," snidely purred the dark Phantom. "Is it always his fault? Can't I do anything myself?"

"No, not really," chimed in Clockwork without looking behind him.

The Dark Phantom glared at him.

"Will you please explain to me what's going on?" said Danny insistently, feeling like he was just made of air. This was not what he had expected to find in Clockwork's home! "How could you? He's a psychopathic murderer!"

The Dark Phantom rolled his blood red eyes. "That hasn't been true for years, kid." He floated past the ghost boy to be next to Clockwork. "Damn, to think I used to be this thickheaded."

"Used to be?" mumbled Clockwork, turning the dial on his staff.

"Don't start."

Clockwork glanced at the other ghost and put a hand on his shoulder, rubbing it lightly.

Danny squinted at the both of them, wheels turning slowly. They obviously weren't alarmed. They were amicable, friendly even. His eyes widened. "Uh…"

Clockwork then did something Danny had never seen him do before. He _handed_ his time scepter to the Dark Phantom. Willingly. He mumbled something to the evil ghost, and the blue flamed spirit nodded once. He held the scepter upright and touched it to the portal they were in front of, causing the swirling energy to change slightly.

The action was slightly lost on Danny, but he was distracted when Clockwork floated back over to him. He patted Danny's back. "Come with me."

The halfa cautiously followed him, never taking an icy eye on the Dark Phantom's direction as they floated into the corridor. Once they had gone up a level, Clockwork led Danny to a large library room. He stopped in the middle and turned to face Danny. "It's a lot to take in, I know."

"A lot to take in?!" said the boy, raising his voice three octaves. "You've got some serious explaining to do for me, because I'm having a_ really_ hard time not zapping him back in my own thermos, Clockwork!"

The temporal ghost smirked and shook his head. "You sound like your mother."

The random comment threw Danny off. He frowned at him. "I do not," he replied with a vague disgust.

Breathing a short chuckle, Clockwork crossed his arms comfortably over his chest.

Danny rolled his eyes, now exasperated. "Please, spare me the 'beating around the bush' and riddling crap you do. Just this once, and tell me in simple English."

"You know that isn't how things work," replied Clockwork patiently.

Glaring hard, Danny tried to calm himself down, pushing the anger and betrayal feelings aside. "Okay… more straightforward questions then. So my evil self… do you have him imprisoned somehow or something still? Like, some kind of brainwash?"

Clockwork chuckled again, a little louder this time. "What gave you that idea?"

Never _ever _a straight answer. That sounded like a "no" though, knowing Clockwork. Danny gave a controlled sigh. "Why is he out?"

Clockwork floated to one of the book shelves and brushing his finger over the titles absently. "I'd remind you of a certain time in your own past where you deserved a second chance, but who wants to revisit that moment?"

Danny's eyes widened. Memories of the time he had tried to change his own past played in his mind. "This completely different, Clockwork. He's _insane_. You don't give someone who should be committed for life a second chance."

"What about Plasmius?" he stated simply.

Danny just ate his own words at that. He was hoping Clockwork wouldn't bring Vlad up. Too much had happened with that old man the past year. So much that Danny didn't want to remember it at all anymore.

"And you forget that your 'evil self' is wholly a part of that man as well," he continued as he changed from his middle age to his elder age.

Danny stood there as Clockwork thumbed through a grey-ish green book, it somehow changing in color to a more vivacious shade. "…So… you're saying that he's somehow changed now?"

Clockwork glanced at him with those solid red eyes, saying no more but all the rest that Danny needed to know without speaking it.

Fixing his gaze to the floor, the teen pressed his lips into a thin line. Either he was going to reject what the Master of Time itself, who knew practically everything, or he was going to accept this. What that abomination of his ghost side had done wasn't something to be easily turned aside. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, sighing again. "All right, say I believe you for a while on this. But why him? Why suddenly let him go? You've gotta have a purpose in something like this, right?"

Clockwork glanced back at Danny again then back to the book. "Because he was needed. But… that time is over now."

Danny cocked his head slightly, now intrigued. "Needed for what?"

"Do you recall the Observants, Danny?"

"Yeah, big annoying Cyclops ghosts you report to."

"Precisely. But not anymore. They decided they were done with me being the middle man, so they attempted to… take my 'privileges' as a temporal manipulator," he said, finally making more sense. "I knew they were going to attempt this someday, but I didn't know when. That's why I needed someone I could train on the 'spot' so to speak. Dan was perfect for the job."

Danny blinked, noting in afterthought to call the Dark Phantom by that now. "But why didn't you ask me? I could've helped you if you just explained it to me."

"It isn't your time, Danny. You weren't meant to fight them. Dan no longer had a purpose in the universe, but this gave him a new one."

The halfa frowned. If he recalled, the Observants were pushovers. They weren't actually that powerful.

"And no, they aren't weak. They would not be at the status they are for being 'pushovers.'"

Danny's frown vanished. That creepy foreknowledge, mindreading… he still wasn't used to it. "But… there are a few things I still don't get. How does he look so much older now? I thought you told me a while back that he was time locked."

"Even in a lock, you can still have your own timeline, Danny. It just moves differently than your concept of time," explained the ghost, shifting into his child form.

Well… that pretty much rang tune. Danny was familiar with the twists and turns of "linear" time. He just didn't deal with it on a regular basis. "And you mentioned that this battle with the Observants is over. How come I didn't hear about it?"

"Not everything of a grand scale is easily perceived by lesser beings. Even something as grand as a time battle."

Now things were starting to fall together. Of course everything was so different. These temporal ghosts could have a year or thousand years war in a split second, and no one would even know. And that also explained why he had suddenly handed over his time scepter to "Dan." Danny nodded thoughtfully.

Clockwork smiled at Danny then put the now brighter book away.

"….Are you two together?" asked the boy behind him. "And I don't mean still from the Observant battle. Like, together-together?"

Now that made the ghost stop. He raised an eyebrow at the half-human.

"Well, are you?"

Clockwork made no reply. He just smiled, and a far off look entered his red eyes.

Danny's eyes slowly widened. "Oh god."

"Don't act so surprised, kiddo," said Dan's baritone voice behind them at the entrance of the library. He was still holding the time scepter as he flew over.

Now that Danny saw them together, he realized that they… actually seemed to have adapted traits from one another. Dan floated around with just his spectral tail like Clockwork did, and there were subtle hints of that wizened calm in him as well. All Danny's suspicions aside, he liked this version of his evil self much better than the one before.

But a nauseated feeling started creeping into his stomach. He couldn't help looking at this in the context that _he_ was basically Clockwork's _boyfriend_ in a different reality. Ew. _Ew._

Clockwork gave Danny a slightly affronted look, seeing what Danny could have said but wasn't. Dan frowned at Clockwork and looked back at Danny. The sickened expression on his young face told the flamed ghost everything, and he broke into laughter that echoed the manic one Danny remembered.

The halfa glared, his face reddening considerably at the entire situation and Dan's chilling laughs. "It isn't funny!"

"Oh hell yes it is!" said Dan between a string of chuckles.

"Danny's right, hon. It _isn't_ funny," chided Clockwork, taking his staff roughly from Dan's grasp. He almost looked offended, something even more rare than the ghost being straightforward.

The term of endearment and Danny's next pale reaction just made Dan laugh harder.

Clockwork's eyelids mimicked the motion of an eye roll. "You're both impossible."

"Oh god, I'm done now," commented Danny, sounding more disgusted than ever.

The Master of Time started to float back the way they'd come in. "Since I know your younger self isn't going to kill you now, don't give him reason to."

Dan's laughter winded down, and he watched Clockwork leave, pretending to wipe a tear away. Once Clockwork was gone, Dan smirked at Danny. "Don't worry, kid, you wouldn't be like we are unless you spent no less than a century together." He rested his elbow on the back of his hand in a mock effeminate pose just to make the boy crawl again. "But I'm only.. half you. Can't know for certain." He gave him a wink.

Danny glared hard at him. "I'm going to hate you in an entirely different way now, aren't I?" he stated with ice in his tone.

Dan started up more laughter that made Danny groan in total disgust. Once he stopped to sigh amusedly, Dan floated forward and reached to ruffle Danny's white hair. The boy jerked away, still grossed out and not accustomed to this whole situation.

"And I'm nothing like you. Not even half of you," bit out Danny. "I'm still not convinced you don't have some hidden plot."

Dan made a condescending face and sighed. "So you're going to be the hard case, hmm? Still haven't lost that childish stubbornness." He looked Danny up and down. "How old are you now? 17? 16?"

"Almost 16," replied Danny with ire. "What do you care?"

Dan itched his elongated, thin fire beard. "It gets hard to remember when you've lived as long as I have."

"Oh come on, you can't be more than 45," said Danny, crossing his arms.

Twiddling the chin flames around his finger, Dan quirked an eyebrow. "Didn't I say it takes a century to 'get used' to Clocky?"

"Can you _please_ stop with the pet names? It's grossing me out. And… I thought you were joking about that…"

Dan shook his head, re-crossing his arms. The two of them looked something like brothers at that moment. "Hm-nmm. I've been out of that thermos for…" He squinted. "What is it, 349 years now? Something like that. I don't really keep track anymore."

Danny stared at him. "…You don't.. look that old."

"Compressed time streams, kiddo," shrugged the _much_ older ghost.

Danny's ecto-tooth buzzed in his ear, startling him. Someone was trying to call him. Holding up a finger to stop any more comments that Dan had, Danny pressed his finger to the earpiece. "Yeah?"

Dan's eyes flashed a dull yellow when Danny wasn't looking.

"Danny, your mom and Sam are trying to get a hold of you. You're gonna be late for that hunter's con thing," said Tucker's voice over the line.

The halfa tried his best not to let any emotion go through. He didn't want Dan in his business. "Okay, I'll come over soon."

"They're really pissed, dude. You better be here within like 5 minutes or your mom is going to flip her lid for you being late again," warned his best friend.

"Got it. See ya," said Danny, ending the connection. "I need to—"

"I know, you've got irritated women on your case," commented Dan, his smirk back.

Danny's eyes widened. "How did you—"

"What, three and a half centuries and you don't think I can tap a simple ectoenergy source? Please."

Clenching his teeth, Danny glared again at him. "God, you sound like your.. boyfriend."

Dan shrugged somewhat. He couldn't help it; he had been with the man for a very long time. "Need a lift?"

"No, I can manage it, thanks," he replied with sarcasm as he started flying to the exit.

The elder ghost suddenly appeared in his path, making Danny reel to a stop. The time scepter was in his hand again. Damn temporal spirits.

"Because I could get you there. Ya know, before your little world implodes," he joked, twirling the scepter in a couple circles with ease.

Danny scoffed. "Yeah, and why would you do that?"

"Why not?"

"And really, why would I trust you not to send me to prehistoric times or use your powers to fry me or something?"

"As hilarious as that would be, I don't really have a reason. That much time has a way of killing grudges, half-pint." He held up the scepter between them, nothing threatening about the way he did it.

Danny swore he was losing it, but he actually considered it. This was all so strange. He really believed it all, but his better judgment was still keeping him from submitting to the insanity.

"And really, Clockwork would just come get you if I sent you into the past, wouldn't he?"

Danny gave him a long, hard look. "If you do anything…" he warned, clenching his fist.

The last thing that Danny saw before the inside of his parent's lab was a smile from Dan that finally didn't look smug.

Tucker was just about to call Danny's ectotooth again when the halfa suddenly appeared behind him. "Whoa!" he yelled in surprise.

Danny looked around him, slightly disoriented himself. He quickly checked himself over, making sure he wasn't damaged or bleeding out somewhere just in case.

"Dude! How did you do that?" exclaimed his best friend, coming over to him.

"Tucker? What was that, is Danny down there?" called his mom from upstairs.

Both boys looked at the staircase. Jeez, she really was uptight about this, thought Danny. "Yeah, Mom! I'll be right up!" He called his ghost rings into existence, and he changed back into human. He gave Tucker a look. "I'll explain later."

Or at least he would _try_ to explain later.


End file.
